“The Ideal City” (c. 1480) Fra Carnavale
Today at 15:00 UTC we run a status check on regulations, accredited consensus products, and consortia standards that inform the safety and sustainability of the real assets of education communities. It is a large topic and we generally only have time to skim the surface of most of a few of them. Of the few, we locate the highest priority then place it on the agenda of the corresponding daily colloquia.
Some of the stars to steer by:
- Tax-free bond markets that provide financing for new square-footage and renovated square-footage; operations and maintenance
- Status of the movement in codes and standards for labor and material; safety and sustainability
- Expansion of building premise safety and sustainability consensus product scopes onto the spaces between buildings
- The renovation-versus-new construction conundrum
- Construction activity data points for education and university-affiliated healthcare facilities
According to IBISWorld Market Research the Educational Service market in the United States runs through about $1600 billion annually. and includes all the soft costs (i.e. nonreal, which is our primary focus) of sustaining civilization.
This is a kludgey number but, when used with other data points collected by government agencies, non-profit trade associations, construction market participants and anecdotes, provides perspective on how to build and maintain the architecture of education communities.
We pick through one or two prospectuses of educational bond offerings uploaded onto the Electronic Municipal Market Access website to see how the money will be spent; particularly how ongoing operation and maintenance expenditures are distinguished (if at all) from capital outlays intended to seed community growth. There are many parties and counterparties involved in the money flow through tax-free education bonds. In some cases, interest groups (such as labor unions) promote school bond referenda in order to secure work for their members.
More
National Center for Education Statistics
May 23: Report on the Condition of Education 2023
School Infrastructure Report Card
